Lunch Rip-off?

Knowing that they will remain the go-to destinations of students’ meals, the biggest diners located around Galileo have once again raised the prices of their products for the 2015-2016 school year. With their easily accessible whereabouts (right next to the school), most students without free school lunches (along with those who prefer buying food) rely on these cafés year round to satisfy their hunger. However, will students be able to keep up with these ever-increasing prices, and for how long will they tolerate it?

A clear case of this exploitation of students’ needs is Cafe Lé’s recent raising of the prices of most of its food products, including rice and spaghetti, by 25¢. Three years ago, the cost per order of teriyaki chicken rice was $4.00; this year, it stands at $4.75 an order. Another example is Chestnut Diner, situated right across Cafe Lé. The cost of an order of fries has been jumping 25¢ per year for the past three years, from $2.25 to $2.50 to $2.75. This steady rising of costs has been a recurring incident for too long, and some students are becoming frustrated.

“This is becoming unreasonable because prices go up every year while the quality of food does not improve,” says multiple seniors at Galileo.

If these local diners continue to charge more and more for the same things, their futures might not be so bright, as students will eventually realize that this mistreatment cannot go on. The students of Galileo should consider boycotting these diners until the diners realize that the steady inflation of prices will hurt the general population more than benefit it, in effect hurting their business.

As Jillian Lee sums this whole issue up, “Why??! Students are broke and hungry and are more likely to buy food for cheaper prices!”